Whistle while you work

It is very hot in Arkansas.  Upper 90s everyday, and HUMID.  Delicious.

Us Andersons have committed to not watching television / playing Wii until after 8pm to help us be more productive and proactive in getting things going here in Arkansas.  For the first couple days that was fine, we had a lot to do.  Now, not so much.  Even if we each spend an hour every morning filling out applications, then an hour to clean the house (which isn't big enough to take an hour) we are done by noon.  Because the sun rises at 5:30 right into our bedroom.  So we are up by 6.  Take a nap at noon, wake up at 1, then what?  We are definitely running out of things to do.  And we can't get a library card until we get mail here... soooo yup.  Luckily, Evan can check books out at school, but he can't get his student id until he registers for classes, and he can't register for classes until his adviser does something, and so we are waiting. 

And then I got yet another e-mail today telling me I had not received a teaching job.  I'm pretty sure that takes me up to 14.  They are all from the same district, so I suppose they are still working on interdepartmental transfers, but I'd rather not be notified that I didn't get every. single. position. I applied to.
Oh well, such is life.

There is a plan in store some where and I'm sure we'll begin to see it soon!

We made it

We packed up our entire house, put into a truck, and drove to Arkansas.  We don't know anyone, we don't have jobs, we don't even have an address yet-  but we are continuing on in faith.  This may be one of the biggest trials in our married life.  Not may be- it is.  Never before have we been asked to drop everything and go to a new place.  I trust my husband, I believe in the priesthood, and I have faith in Heavenly Father's plan for us.  I know that things will be worked out in time, and until then we are to work on bettering ourselves.  We have been so occupied with work and school the last few months there is a lot we have let slide.  We are taking this opportunity to set personal and spiritual goals and really live up to them.  I know this will help us long term, and I look forward to seeing how our life unfolds. 

Check back to see what exciting adventures we have next!

Pressing Forward

After some serious consideration, and lots of talking, and crying (on my part, oh to be a woman) we decided to change our move date.  By a month.  So we'll be heading south in a few weeks.  Abandoning everything we have here in hopes of setting up some roots down in Arkansas.  Evan says it isn't abandoning, it's moving on, letting go, starting something new, but it felt strange for me.  I had commitments, and plans, and a timeline I could deal with.  A slow, easy pack up, a few more months to see my friends and say goodbyes.  And now I am down to what, 9 days?  Now that we've both quit our jobs the announcement can be official.  Of course, we told our FHE group on Monday, barely a full day after the decision was made.  As the days go by, I feel better and better about the decision.  I'm grateful to the priesthood holders in my life for helping guide our little family in finding the right path for us.  And you know what? Evan was right, we aren't abandoning our lives in Richmond, we are changing them, moving them to Conway and making the best decision for our future.  The sooner we build our foundation, the sooner we can add on accessories.

Notice the new blog title?  'AR we there yet' seemed like the easiest way to play off of Arkansas, and it also reflects that this is just another temporary phase of our lives.  The newlywed phase, isn't forever.  Graduate school, isn't forever.  Moving around from apartment to apartment to house to house and state to state, isn't forever.  One day we will find permanence- until then, we are enjoying the journey!

The Andersons go outdoors!

Memorial Weekend means a three day weekend which of course means camping!  I hadn't been camping in years, but I sure did love every minute of it.  We went with three other couples and I had a blast with everyone, I hope everybody else did too!  Saturday was spent mostly in town (see my post "Year One" for details) and then Saturday night we watched a bluegrass band perform at the visitor's center for the campsite.  It was ... excellent.  Evan especially enjoyed it- I think his exact words were, "I would trade in my PhD to play banjo for a bluegrass band."

Sunday we hiked, and it was a toughie!  It was well worth it though, we got some beautiful pictures, which only capture a part of what it really looked like.  It was amazing.

 So foggy!  Candice needed a little rest after getting to the top, it felt good up there though, fresh air, calm breeze, ahhh.

The men posing atop some more rocks

The lake across from our campsite, and then of course we had to pose all muscly... yeah!

Then we went to the 'swimmin hole' as Evan called it and swam in the river, played bocci ball, read, and just relaxed.  I great activity to cool down after a long hike!

There were cows in the river, just cooling off.

Then we washed off in the river.  Of course, I had the camera so the men got their pictures taken.  All in one kids shampoo, conditioner, body wash makes for a great river bath! And it was COLD! But felt so good after being extra sweaty.

Camping was so much fun!  I can't wait to do it again!

Year 1

We made it through the first year!  It was a great year with a lot of memories.  It feels like it's been so much longer, I mean, we both graduated, we did applications for graduate school, we looked for houses in Arkansas, ahhh so many things!

We celebrated in the middle of our camping trip by going down into Buena Vista / Lexington and walking around town.  We had some delicious pizza at Salerno's and then window shopped in downtown Lexington, it was a wonderful day overall.  We didn't take many pictures, but still a blast.

The fog was CRAZY thick that morning.  This is actually one of the more clear parts of the drive.

Evan standing next to his Eagle Scout Project.  Still there!

My new sweet shirts I got for a dollar each at the goodwill.  Yes, they are awesome.

Happy Anniversary number 1 to us!  Here's to an eternity worth of more great years!